New Jersey

New Jersey Pol Fakes Springsteen Spotify Wrapped, Blames Kids

Published

2 years ago

December 11, 2024

New Jersey Pol Fakes Springsteen Spotify Wrapped, Blames Kids

It’s not hard to be a Bruce Springsteen fan. Millions of people around the world do it every day effortlessly, relishing the power, the glory, the promise, the majesty, the mystery, and the ministry of rock & roll as only Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen can deliver it. It’s much harder to fake being a Bruce Springsteen fan. And yet that’s somehow the situation Josh Gottheimer, a Democratic politician from — you’ll never believe this — New Jersey, has found himself in.

Gottheimer has represented Jersey’s 5th congressional district in the House since 2017, and he’s currently trying to secure the Democratic nomination for governor ahead of next year’s election. Over the years, Gottheimer, as one would expect from a New Jersey politician, has made plenty of hay about his love of Springsteen. As NJ.com notes, his campaign website describes a youth spent “catching a Springsteen show every chance he could get”; and when Gottheimer announced his gubernatorial bid lat month, he came out to “Glory Days” (a song famously about, uh, locking your longing gaze on the past because you’re unable to stare down your bleak, empty future).

Now, we’re not necessarily here to cast doubt on Gottheimer’s Bruce standom. What we are here to do, however, is mock him for faking his Spotify Wrapped to make it look like his Top 5 most listened to songs this past year were all Springsteen tracks.

Last week, Gottheimer shared a screengrab of his alleged top songs of 2024, which boasted five great (albeit pretty basic) Springsteen classics: “Thunder Road,” “Because the Night” (not even Patti Smith’s version), “Glory Days,” “Badlands,” and “The Rising.” On X, Gottheimer wrote, “No surprises here… Fun fact: My first ever concert was at Meadowlands to see The Boss!”

As it turns out, there was one surprise. It was spotted by Terrence McDonald, editor of the New Jersey Monitor, who noted in the publication’s newsletter that the fonts and spacing on Gottheimer’s supposed Wrapped screengrab were “all wrong.” A side-by-side comparison between Gottheimer’s Wrapped and a real Spotify Wrapped confirmed the discrepancies, most clearly in the shapes of several numbers, as well as the typeface of the letter “g” in “songs.”

Editor’s picks

Furthermore, a quick look at Gottheimer’s Wrapped looks noticeably fuzzier and lo-res than a normal screengrab — as if some poor campaign intern spent 45 minutes hastily concocting it in Photoshop. (We’re, of course, just speculating.)

🤔Lol. h/t @terrencemcd pic.twitter.com/pRh61vRvsO
— Matt Arco (@MatthewArco) December 9, 2024

Gottheimer eventually owned up to the fabrication — though if you thought, there’s no way it could possibly get any lamer than a politician fudging their Spotify Wrapped to look more relatable, Gottheimer managed to outdo himself. In a statement shared with NJ.com, the representative basically said he had to do it because of his meddling kids.

“This would be my Spotify Wrapped if I didn’t share my account with my 12- and 15-year-old kids,” Gottheimer said. “While it’s Springsteen all day for me — don’t get me wrong, I still love listening to Taylor Swift!”

Oh, brother. Even Taylor Swift is catching strays in this mess.

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New Jersey

NJ fines Sen. Wimberly $24K after use of donations for hotels, airfare

Published

2 hours ago

July 14, 2026

Press Room

NJ fines Sen. Wimberly K after use of donations for hotels, airfare

2-minute read

PATERSON — In a three-month span at the end of 2022, state Sen. Benjie Wimberly, then an assemblyman, spent more than $7,200 in political donations on hotel bills, airfare and other travel expenses.

Now, Wimberly has been fined about $24,000 by New Jersey’s Election Law Enforcement Commission, partly for spending campaign funds on his own personal use.

The ELEC complaint against Wimberly had been pending since December 2024, and a settlement between the state and the senator was reached at the end of May 2026. ELEC made details of the deal public on July 1.

“Senator Wimberly chose to settle the matter with ELEC because his priority is addressing the immediate and important needs of his district,” said his attorney, Angelo Genova, a prominent and well-connected lawyer in New Jersey political circles.

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“As expressly stated in the Consent Order and Final Decision, Senator Wimberly and his treasurer neither admit nor deny the violations, and they maintain their good-faith belief that the disputed expenditures were permissible under the law,” Genova added.

Wimberly’s campaign treasurer, David Cozart, works as an assistant superintendent for Paterson Public Schools, with a $213,000 salary. Wimberly also works for the city school district as director of recreation, with a $194,000 salary.

The commission determined that 19 of Wimberly’s expenditures at the end of 2022, when he was still an Assembly member, were for impermissible uses. The order said $10,861 of the fine stemmed from Wimberly’s improper use of political funds. The rest of the penalty was for late filing of a finance report that covered October through December of 2022.

Among the expenditures highlighted by ELEC were:

$645 to the Hilton Garden Inn Lodge Colonial on Oct. 11, 2022.
$751 to the Embassy Suites Hampton on Oct. 25, 2022.
$497 to the Landing at Hampton on Nov. 8, 2022.
$322 to the Hilton Garden Inn on Dec. 6, 2022.
$378 to the Omni Hotels on Dec. 14, 2022.

The ELEC complaint did not provide specific locations of those businesses.

Partial payment of $4,000 in April

The order said Wimberly and Cozart made a partial payment of $4,000 in April 2026. The election commission also reduced the penalty, lowering it to $15,335.

Going forward, Cozart and Wimberly would make four payments of $3,833.99 through April 2027, the order said.

Wimberly supporters noted that the original complaint filed against him came at the end of 2024, when he was still an Assembly member making a bid for the vacant New Jersey 35th District Senate seat left vacant when Nellie Pou went to Congress.

Wimberly sought the Senate seat even though several Passaic County Democratic party leaders were backing then-Assemblywoman Shavonda Sumter for the Senate. After the initial tally ended in a tie, Wimberly won the internal party election by one vote over Sumter.

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New Jersey

Heat wave to bring near 100 degree weather. When does NJ heat wave start

Published

14 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Press Room

Heat wave to bring near 100 degree weather. When does NJ heat wave start

Last week wasn’t a great one when it comes to weather at the Jersey Shore.

This one will be much better, at least if you like heat.

A heat wave will hit New Jersey this week with hot weather moving into the area on Tuesday. The warm temperatures will stick around for most of the week before we get a little relief by the end of the weekend.

The National Weather Service forecasts the heat wave to start July 14 with a sunny day with highs around 92 degrees. Wednesday is even hotter with temperatures expected to flirt with 100 degrees. Thursday stays hot with a high of 92 degrees forecasted, with Friday and Saturday also expected to see highs in the low 80s.

According to the NOAA, Wednesday the Jersey Shore area will be under an extreme heat watch.

Tuesday through Friday are expected to be sunny, with some clouds. Saturday is when showers roll in.

Sunday the heatwave is expected to break. Showers are also expected to stick around with a high of 84 degrees expected.

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New Jersey

New NJ businesses include non-alcoholic liquor store, art school

Published

1 day ago

July 13, 2026

Press Room

New NJ businesses include non-alcoholic liquor store, art school

2-minute read

The Record, NorthJersey.com, the Daily Record and the New Jersey Herald want to keep you up to date on all the newest shops, restaurants and service providers moving into your towns. Below is a roundup of businesses that recently opened or are coming soon.

Are you opening a business in North Jersey? Get the word out to your neighbors as soon as possible. Send us your information and photos and we will try to add them to our next new-business roundup.

We’re also interested in reporting business closings. Have a tip? Contact Business Reporter Daniel Munoz at munozd@northjersey.com, or 201-270-9870, and Stephanie Noda at noda@northjersey.com, or 973-558-0950.

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